Carpe' Noctem
by Midnite OniHime
Summary: When the daughter of a rich biologist is attacked by what appears to be werewolves, her comfortable life is suddenly tossed upsidedown as she realizes that things aren't what they seem.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**** Ola!! Okay… so this story was seriously screwed up so I have decided to revamp it in the hopes that all this effort will spur me into actually putting up some more and hopefully finishing it at long last. I had almost written this story off as a white elephant but I'd feel pretty much awful if I did that so I'm pulling it up out of the darkness of its near-indefinite hold. This version will be more chapters in a less huffed-up, patchwork, squished-Frankenstein's-monster and more structured and orderly sort of way. **

**Disclaimer: yes, some dude actually flew by on his golden-winged piggy and gave me the rights to Maximum Ride... uh huh… and then Alice and I had tea in the queen of hearts' garden with the man from the moon who brought some of it's cheese to have on toast.**

**MN: O.o' Ata… that is…**

**Ata::grins:: **

**Merla: uh… okaaay… do we have any couches handy? I think we need a set.**

**MN: never mind the couch… this one needs a padded room. **

**Ata::sighs:: okay,okay… let's just get the story up please!**

**XxXxXxX**

**Carpe' Noctem**

**Prologue**

Tori leant against the shower wall, her left shoulder pressed against the cool tiles. She lifted her arm and rested her forehead against the tanned skin on the back of her wrist. Her right hand was pressed against a spot on her left side, just below her ribs. A steady stream of blood trickled through her fingers to be washed away by the hot water. She focused her thoughts on the wound and felt it slowly begin to tingle and heal. The trickle of blood began to slow, and after a few moments had stopped altogether. She moved her hand away to reveal, hidden under a layer of dried blood, four pink lines running parallel to her ribs. Although she could heal the wounds, there was nothing that she could do about the scars, they'd always be there.

She finished washing away the blood and turned off the shower, stepping out into the cold bathroom, she shivered. She quickly grabbed her towel off the rail, dried herself, and got dressed. She wore thin black cotton slacks and a black strap top. She turned off the lamp and padded to the window. Pulling back the curtain, she looked out at the night. Everything was silent, except for the music floating up from the hotel bar. Maybe she should get a drink…she stood at the window and was contemplating this when a movement at the edge of the parking lot caught her eye. //them!// she thought, her blood running cold with fear. Then it was gone, before she could focus on it. She waited, and a second later, a black cat ran under one of the lights around the lot. Only when her breath rushed past her lips, did she realise that she'd been holding it. All thoughts of a drink forgotten, she turned away from the window and fell onto the bed. Suddenly she felt exhausted as the days events caught up with her. She had thought that she wouldn't be able to sleep for days, but her body betrayed her and she was soon asleep.

Tori glanced back over her shoulder as she ran breathlessly through the littered streets and dark alleys. She was sure-footed and fast, even in the murky darkness, she could've outrun any other human easily, but she wasn't quite sure that her pursuers were actually human. She heard, rather than saw them behind her in the darkness of the grimy alley, snarling and growling with the occasional howl in the thrill of the chase. It she hadn't seen them earlier, when they'd first attacked her, she would never have believed that the creatures that were after her were in any way human. They were more like rabid wolves than men. /warewolves/ she decided. But that was ridiculous, they weren't real, but whatever was chasing her sure was. //what do they want from me?// she thought, but shoved the thought to the back of her head as one of them howled behind her, a sound that turned her blood to ice. She turned sharply around another corner and found herself in one of the main streets.//Now where?// she was starting to get tired and she knew that she couldn't keep this pace for very much longer. If she didn't lose these things soon she was dead./literally/ she thought, remembering the sharp teeth of her pursuers.

She glanced up at a street sign as it flashed past. Gordon. There was a club a few blocks away, that was actually where she'd been headed before they'd attacked her, if she couldn't outrun them, then maybe she could lose them in the crowd. She glanced back over her shoulder and nearly screamed. The nearest guy was only about ten feet behind her, and he was about to leap at her. She put on a burst of speed and almost got away, but she was a little slow and one clawed hand managed to cut into her side and she felt pain flare on her left side. Without thinking, she swung her bag round and felt it connect with a crunch. Her attacker yelped in pain and she heard him stumble, which at that speed was not a good idea. She looked back to see him falter and fall, arms failing wildly. The others (she could see three more) didn't have time to react before they were on him. They yowled as they flew a few feet before smashing into the ground. A small smile of triumph played on Tori's lips as she turned her attention back to getting away.

The club was now only a block away and she covered the distance quickly, stopping a little way back to gather herself. She looked down at the wound in her left side, it was pretty deep, and she didn't have enough energy right now to heal it, she needed to rest for a little while, maybe she could get a ride to a hotel, she couldn't go home, the maids would tell her father. She moved her bag so that it was covering the wound, thankfully she was wearing black so it hid the blood soaking her top. She walked toward the bouncer and forced a smile. She knew him well and always smiled at him, but when he turned around he suddenly wasn't the bouncer at all. It was a guy, not much older than herself. He was very tall, with shoulder length jet-black hair, a handsome face, and the most startling eyes she had ever seen. They were pale blue, almost white at the pupils, with dark blue bands on the outer edge of the iris. He looked at her and his expression became one of fear.

"Tori..." He said in a thin voice.

Tori woke with a start and stared wildly at the room around her. His voice was still clear in her mind. She didn't know who he was, but she had the feeling that he was important. She sat up and leaned back against the wall. This wasn't the first time she had dreamt of him, she had been dreaming of him since she'd turned sixteen just over two weeks ago, but it was the first time she had seen him clearly, mostly she just caught snatches of him running through a forest, or down a corridor, but she knew it was always the same person. She could feel it.

She turned her thoughts back to the dream. The first part was exactly what had happened earlier, and she had the feeling that he was wrapped up in whatever was going on. Whoever he was. She wondered for a moment why she was so convinced that he was real, she didn't know, but her instincts told her that he was, and they hadn't let her down yet.

She got up and padded to the window and looked out. The music from the bar had stopped now and the night was completely silent.

"Who are you?" she whispered to the night, "And what are They?"

Stefan sat up sharply, her name still hanging in the air around him like an electric current. He had dreamt of her again. Tori. Her name was new to him, yet it sounded familiar. He had never seen her before, yet she had haunted his dreams since just before he had escaped from The School two weeks ago. She always seemed so calm in his dreams, he'd catch glimpses of her in a crowd of people, drifting gracefully from group to group like a ghost. But tonight was different, she had been running for her life from Erasers, her black hair(not much longer than his, he noted.) whipping around her face as she ran, her violet eyes wide with a mixture of courage, fear and determination.

He'd almost laughed when she'd made that first Eraser fall, but had panicked a little when he realised that she was running straight towards him. He had turned around and tried to act as if he hadn't noticed her sudden appearance a few feet away and when he'd turned back she was about a foot away, with a smile fixed in place that didn't reach her eyes. They widened in recognition, and she gasped as her name was spoken. He'd known instantly that it was her name but it took a moment for him to realise that he'd been the one to speak it, and with that realisation he'd woken up.

"Tori…" he said softly to the night. He needed to find her before the Erasers could get hold of her again and do any damage. He thought back to the dream, trying to find anything that would tell him where to look, and he found it. The street name, Gordon. At that moment he was extremely grateful that he had a photographic memory. He wondered if she would go back there. /maybe not/ he decided, but at least it would give him somewhere to start. He stood up gracefully on the pine branch he'd been sleeping on, ran to the edge and jumped off into the dark. He let himself fall for a couple of feet before unfurling his wings and starting to fly. A small grin played on his lips as he rose above the trees. /I don't think I'll ever get used to this. It feels so wonderful./

He rose high into the night before stopping. He didn't know where to go from here so he flew in a wide circle, thinking. He looked in all directions before turning back to the southeast, how he that it was the southeast he had no idea, maybe it the avian DNA. He was, after all, 2 bird, and birds had a good sense of direction. He concentrated on the horizon and could see lights. It was probably a city. /A city!/ he thought excitedly/that could be where she is!/ He tried to remember anything about the city but it was no good, apart from his sense of direction, his geography was useless. They never bothered to teach him anything more than the basics. He grimaced at the memory of the School. /It's a wonder I've survived this long/ he thought sourly as he began to fly toward the city.

**XxXxXxX**

**MN; ****okey-doke… well… there's the prologue up. Now… on to chapter one. XD**


	2. chapter one

**A/N:**** Ola!! Okay… so this story was seriously screwed up so I have decided to revamp it in the hopes that all this effort will spur me into actually putting up some more and hopefully finishing it at long last. I had almost written this story off as a white elephant but I'd feel pretty much awful if I did that so I'm pulling it up out of the darkness of its near-indefinite hold. This version will be more chapters in a less huffed-up, patchwork, squished-Frankenstein's-monster and more structured and orderly sort of way. **

**Disclaimer: yes, some dude actually flew by on his golden-winged piggy and gave me the rights to Maximum Ride... uh huh… and then Alice and I had tea in the queen of hearts' garden with the man from the moon who brought some of it's cheese to have on toast.**

**XxX**

**MN: righteo! Chapter one here we come.**

**Ata::grins:: yip. it feels good to rebuild this story with some semblance of a structure.**

**Merla: yeah… but this chapter's like nine pages… I don't think we've ever had a chapter that long… **

**Ata: hmmm this is indeed true**

**MN: Long ass chapter for us. ::smirks::**

**Ata::shakes head:: well, without further ado! **

**XxXxXxX**

**Carpe' Noctem**

**Chapter one**

Tori watched the sun rise above the horizon as she walked up the driveway to the main house. It wasn't the first time that she had only come home at dawn, but she felt tense as she climbed the steps and unlocked the large oak door. The house was already filled with the sounds and smells of cooking and cleaning.

/Strange,/ Tori thought as she slipped to the main staircase and began to climb up to her room. The sun filtered in through the tall windows on either side of the door and filled the entrance hall with golden light. The maids never got up this early unless…

/Oh no/ she thought with a silent groan. /Father's home./ It could only be him, her mother was in Paris for a month with her aunt.

"Toriana Jacobs!" a cross voice hissed from behind her in the corridor. She spun around to see her personal maid, Liz , coming towards her. "is this any time to come home?"

A small smile crossed her lips, she knew Liz wasn't really cross with her, but she smothered it quickly. When Liz, who was 5'8" of almost pure muscle(she had grown up with eight older brothers) chose to act cross, you chose to be sorry.

"I'm sorry Liz, but I told you I'd be late." She paused, "I take it Father's home?" Liz nodded.

"He got here about an hour ago. I've been under stress ever since." She admitted. Tori knew that she was the cause of the anxiety. If she hadn't gotten here before her father woke up, Liz would've been in big trouble. Although Liz was her maid, they had developed a good friendship and she hated getting her in trouble.

"Sorry Liz." She said again.

Liz tutted affectionately and rolled her eyes. "C'mon we'd better get you ready." She said, ushering Tori into her room.

"Ready?" Tori asked in horror, this didn't sound good.

"Yes, ready. Your Father is having a Breakfast meeting and I expect he wants you to join him and his guests for the meal." She glanced back at Tori, who had stopped just inside the door, her face a mixture of horror and fury, and chuckled.

"No." Tori said firmly.

"You have to. You know that as well as I do." Tori glared at her.

"I hate you."

"That's fine," she said in a placating tone, "but you still have to go."

Tori gave a growl of frustration, walked to the bed, and flung off her bag and jacket before sitting heavily on the edge. Liz crossed the room and closed the door before going to stand at the foot of the bed.

"Sorry." Tori muttered, she knew she was just being stubborn, but she hated going to her Father's stupid parties and functions. "It's not you I hate, it's him. He goes away for weeks at a time, and still expects our lives to revolve around him." Liz sighed.

"He's a busy man Tori, you know that."

"I know. And I know that I should be glad for him, after all he's the head director of a huge research corporation, but it's hard to love a man that's never around. And it's easy to hate a man that makes you go to all these annoying functions that make you feel like nothing more than a stupid trophy in a glass case."

"I know you don't like going to these things, but it is your duty as the future lady of the manor." Tori snorted back a laugh. Lady of the manor indeed. If her mates in the club heard that, they'd laugh themselves silly. She worked hard to keep her two worlds separate. Posh Princess that goes to a private school, always looks neat, never speaks out of turn, by day, and well, everything her parents hate, by night. She hangs around the darker side of town, clubbing, drinking and dancing. Her height and money gave her an advantage that most girls didn't have, and she established a reputation for herself. None of the bouncers ever asked her for ID, but she had a fake one anyway, just in case.

The shower being turned on brought her back to the situation at hand. She sighed and began to take her wig off. She always wore it when she went out at night. It stopped any of her friends from recognising her. She unclipped her long, brown hair and let it fall in waves down her back and over her arms that glinted gold in the morning sunlight. She went to her dressing table and took off her makeup then went into the bathroom got undressed, and climbed into the shower. When she got out ten minutes later, Liz had put out a dress for her and was standing waiting for her with her discarded clothes in her hands.

"I won't ask why your top is ripped and your clothes have blood on them, but I do hope that you know what you are doing."

/How did she know about the blood? I washed those clothes at the hotel/

"I'll throw these away. I suppose you don't want me to tell your father?"

Tori nodded. She couldn't think of anything to say.

"Right then," Liz said, opening the door "breakfast starts in three hours."

Tori nodded again as she closed the door, then turned to get her robe, her thoughts back to the night before, and the guy of her dreams.

XxXxX

Two hours and forty-five minutes later, Tori walked into the dining room. One of the maids that saw her was slightly startled at her silent appearance. Her father was sitting at the head of the table already, reading a newspaper and he looked up at the maid's sharp intake of breath. He stood up as she approached and gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

"Toriana, my dear, you look lovely. Did you sleep well?" Tori could tell from the instant he opened his mouth that something was wrong, but she knew better than to ask, so she ignored it instead.

"Yes, thank you father." She saw a look cross his face, but it was gone before she could read it.

"I see you are wearing the new dress your mother sent you, it suits you." Was that a compliment? She had to work very hard to keep her eyes from widening in shock, and then from narrowing in suspicion. She looked down at her dress. It was plain black silk with thin straps and a curved 'v' neckline, and a flaring skirt. She had clipped her hair back so that the top half flowed over the clip and the bottom half hung freely down her back, and she wore very little makeup, just a little around her eyes, and some lip gloss.

"Thank you." She barely managed to say it without stuttering. Then the doorbell rang. The first of the guests had arrived, and as her father went to greet them, she could've sworn she'd heard him say "and so it begins." under his breath. /And so what begins?/ she thought as she went to join him.

Breakfast was almost as boring as usual. The same pleasantries, followed by the same questions. How is school? Has she decided what she's going to study after school. Biology? Following in her father's footsteps? God, she hoped not. She did love biology, both human and animal, but she hadn't decided which she wanted to study when she left school. The only thing different today, was that there was a strong undercurrent of tension running through the room and she was very interested in what it was. Tori had found out just after her thirteenth birthday that she was telepathic and had learnt very quickly how to put up mental barriers to block out other people's thoughts. /It was either that or go insane./ she thought irritably. She hadn't told anyone, not even her parents, worried that they'd think she was weird, and she had found out just after that that she was stronger and faster than her other friends, and that she could heal herself.

Liz knew that she could heal herself. She had found out one day when she had looked out a window to see Tori falling out of one of the oak trees in the back yard. Tori was an excellent climber because of her other abilities, but she couldn't escape gravity and the rotten branch didn't help much either. Liz had rushed out to find Tori sitting on the grass healing a long cut on her knee, and she had nearly passed out from the shock. Tori felt someone watching her and looked up to see a young man staring at her as if it were her on the menu instead of breakfast. She stared defiantly into his eyes and suppressed a shiver at the coldness that she saw there.

His lips parted in a predatory smile to reveal a set of very white teeth. Sharp teeth. With fangs. Very sharp fangs. She didn't know why she did it, but she reached out toward him with her mind, and not for the first time in twenty-four hours, her heart seemed to be pumping ice instead of blood. He was one of them. This angelic looking guy was one of those things that had been chasing her last night. She looked at him closer and saw that he had a faint bruise on the side of his head, just next to his eye. He was the one she had hit. If she'd thought that trying to keep a straight face earlier was hard, then trying not to completely freak out now was almost impossible.

She wondered why this…thing…was here, in her house, calmly having breakfast at her dining room table, eating calmly like a well-mannered, polite young man. She strained to keep her face calm and looked away from him, down to her plate. She had lost any appetite that she had had earlier, and now could only manage to push her food around her plate, thinking about how he could be associated with her father. If her father didn't know, which was very unlikely, she decided, then he couldn't know about what had happened last night. But then why did he react so strangely when she'd said she'd slept well. He had to know, she decided reluctantly, and if he knew about the guy, then he knew about last night, and that meant that he was part of it.

She looked up at the man she had thought she'd known her whole life, and it was as if a veil had suddenly lifted. She knew now the reason his eyes never seemed to smile, why he always looked like he was preoccupied with something. His life was as much a lie as hers was, maybe even more so. Their eyes met as he looked around and he smiled slightly at her. Her whole world shattered in that single gesture because it told her now for certain what she had suspected.

/He's known all along/ she thought as she smiled back. /He knows I'm not normal. He's always known./ she reached out to his mind for the first time in her life and read the thoughts there. /…must be something else. She's sixteen already and the only things to show up are strength and speed. These can't be the only results…/ Tori wanted to scream. Results of what? But at that moment one of the guests spoke to her father and his thoughts shifted to the conversation.

Eventually they finished eating and she was told that she could go if she wanted. She knew that there wasn't really any question. She was being dismissed. Tori waited until she had closed the door behind her before breaking into a run. She ran into her room and threw herself down on the bed, sobbing. After a few minutes, when she had calmed down enough to be able to string two thoughts together without it hurting her brain, she began to asses the situation.

She couldn't stay here, that much was certain, and she began to formulate a plan. She packed a small bag with the basics, Jeans, t-shirts, the usual. Then she padded into her parents' room. She'd known the code to their safe for years, but had never used it, or needed to, until now. She opened it now and took out what must have been over a thousand dollars of neatly stacked bills. She glanced at the gun and thought of taking it for a moment before deciding against it. The money she could handle, but not the gun. She closed the safe again and padded back to her room, but as she got to the door she heard her father's voice float up from the study. /they must have moved there after I left/ she thought.

"WHAT??? It's been two weeks and we still haven't located him???" he sounded furious. She waited for a second to hear more, but one of the others seemed to be talking now. She wondered who'd gone missing, but shrugged it off. She had bigger things to worry about. She opened her door to find Liz pacing at the foot of the bed.

"Why?" she asked. Tori didn't even try to play dumb. Liz knew that she was going.

"Because I have to." She said truthfully.

"Because of your father?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not dumb Tori, I know he's hiding something, I've always known. And as of the last two weeks he's been very tense. Ever since you turned sixteen, actually. And then this morning he suddenly arrives home when it's still dark, telling us there's going to be a breakfast meeting, and then you arrive at dawn with torn clothes and covered in blood. I'd be a fool not to notice something's amiss. So I decided to do a little snooping. I came up with this." For the first time, Tori noticed that she was holding a file in her hand, which she now handed to Tori. Inside was a picture of Him. The guy from her dreams. "Apparently," Liz continued, "he escaped from some place called The School a couple of days after your birthday." That was who they had been talking about earlier. That meant that he was still safe. For now. She looked up at Liz and found her staring uncomfortably at the floor.

"What Liz?"

"This seemed much easier earlier." she muttered, "turn the page" so she did. And gasped in shock as she looked into her own eyes.

"What is this?" she asked Liz.

"I'm not sure Tori, but I think that you and that guy are somehow mixed up in this together, and whatever this is… your father is at the centre of it." Tori looked back down at the page. Her whole history was written there, along with a footnote scribbled in what she recognised as her father's writing that said: 'experiment is a possible failure.'

She looked back at Liz, her violet eyes flaring.

"I have to get out of here. Now."

"I'll help you in any way I can."

XxXxX

"I seriously need to find some food or I'm not going to be able to do anything!" Stefan muttered to himself for the tenth time in the last five minutes. He really was starving. He hadn't eaten anything since he had started looking for Tori last night and his stomach was getting louder and louder by the minute. He was almost sure that that would give him away before anything else did. He had landed around dawn, and had found himself in the alley that he remembered as the one from the dream about fifteen minutes ago, now he was slinking around, trying to figure out what to do next.

He couldn't just walk around without food forever, which was exactly what he was going to end up doing if he didn't come up with some sort of plan. Maybe he could steal some food or something? There weren't exactly a whole lot of animals that he could catch and cook, which was pretty much what he'd been doing when he was in the woods, running from the School. He looked around to see where he was, and he was back outside the same building, again.

This was the fifth time that he'd been around the block in a circle. He didn't mean to, it was just that he felt…almost drawn to the place. It was almost noon, he guessed, and there didn't seem to be too many people around… at that moment he felt shivers run down his spine and he swung round to see someone heading straight toward him. At first he had a fleeting sense that it was Tori, but then common sense took over and he saw that it couldn't possibly be her, this woman had thick, curly blond hair that looked very dry when he focused on her.

Stefan panicked slightly and looked around for someplace to hide. The only place that he could see was up, so that's the way he went. Taking a big jump and landing awkwardly on the roof. He ducked down as low as he could and watched the woman approach. She kept her head down and stared at the pavement. When he looked closer it looked like her top was wet. Was she crying? Why? Stefan began to study her as she walked toward the building. She was wearing all black. Sneakers, jeans and a t-shirt. Her nails were even painted black. Her hair really looked bad, he noticed, it looked more like plastic and it was really dull.

She stopped outside the building and rang a bell. She was carrying a large backpack on her back which looked really full. Suddenly someone opened the door, and the woman looked up, but he still couldn't see her face because of all that frizzy hair. Stefan heard a gasp and then a man's voice spoke in a very surprised tone.

"Terri? What are you doing here? Is something wrong, you look like you've been crying. A lot."

"Dyllan, I'm sorry to just show up like this, I know I must have woken you, but I really need your help." In an instant, Stefan realised that this was not a woman at all, but what sounded like a young girl desperately trying to keep calm, but she was obviously terrified about something.

XxXxX

Tori looked anxiously up at Dyllan, she saw worry in his eyes as they searched hers for some sort of answer. At length he took a step back to let her into the club. She sighed softly in relief. As she moved towards the door, a movement on the roof caught her eye, but when she looked up there was nothing there. /I'm getting paranoid./ she thought harshly and shook herself mentally for being so stupid before following Dyllan inside. She was slightly taken aback by how different the club looked during the day as she followed him silently to the bar.

"You look like you could use a drink." Dyllan commented, handing her a Bacardi after studying her for a second, "on the house." She smiled weakly back at him before taking a long sip from the bottle.

"Thanks. I think I could."

"No problem. So, what brings you down to my club at this time of the day?"

This was one of the things she liked about him, he was always straight down to business. And, unless you were a cop he was always honest with you. If you wanted something, he'd do his best to get it for you, provided that it didn't go outside his principles, which ruled out drugs and any other highly illegal stuff, including arms, except on rare occasions. He also dealt in ID's and passports, which was how they'd met. Which brought her back to why she was here.

"I need two sets of documents. The works." She said much more confidently than she felt. She saw his eyebrows raise slightly. He was definitely curious, but wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Who for?"

"Myself- yes I know, I think my other set may have been found, so I need another." She said quickly as he opened his mouth to comment. He closed it again and let her continue. "The other set is for a friend. I've got his picture with me so he doesn't have to be here. I've also got a copy of his prints." she said, opening the folder and taking out the information he needed. This definitely got him interested.

"Planning to elope or something?" he joked to hide his interest. Tori looked at the picture for the millionth time that day.

"Yeah," she joked back, "something like that."

"Alright then, we'd better get started, I take it you need these ASAP?" he was already making his way to the basement door with the info in his hands. She nodded and he turned to go down. "Help yourself to whatever, just leave some stuff for the customers. I don't want to have to stay closed tonight."

"Aye Aye, mon capitan!" she shouted after him and a grin played on her lips as his laugh floated up the stairs. She smiled to herself. He really was a good friend. /He was once more than just a good friend./ some part of her chided. She squashed the thought. Yes, they had dated, but with her constantly leading a double life, they had both known that it wouldn't really have worked out. She sighed, remembering their time together. He was older than her, but not by too much. A person would think that he were much older than he was, considering that he owned a nightclub, but he was only about twenty-four.

He was a brilliant hacker and had a good business sense. And it didn't do any harm that he was over 6' and had a very well-muscled body. /Wait a minute, hacker?/ a sudden thought hit her, maybe… she thought about it for a moment. He definitely was good. She remembered getting him to hack into her house's camera's once. And into her bank account. She crossed the room to the window and looked out, then turned away/Maybe he could hack into this place, this School that the files mentioned./

She felt the hairs on her neck prickle and turned back to the window. There was a man walking past the club, and as he walked past he looked up and she recognised the face. /ohmygod../ she ran to the door and flung it open, jumping down the four stairs and almost falling on her face, but her momentum carried her forward slightly and she collided with him, pulling him to the ground with her.

Stefan let out a yelp of surprise and then pain as his shoulder connected with the sidewalk.

"Oh, sorry." Tori gasped, getting up quickly, pulling a still dazed Stefan to his feet and pulling him back into the club so quickly that he didn't even realise that he was moving until he had stopped and heard the door close behind him. He turned in panic to the blond girl to ask just what she thought she was doing, only to be rendered speechless by a very familiar pair of violet eyes.

"Hello Stefan." She said with amusement at the stunned recognition in his eyes.

His eyes, if possible, went even wider and his jaw dropped. He tried to reply but his brain was suddenly numb and seemed to be incapable of speech.

"uh," was pretty much all he could manage.

"Boy, and I thought I was bad." She commented with a grin. "Come on, let's get you a drink." She said, leading Stefan to the bar. It always seemed to work for her.

"Well, um," Tori said, sitting opposite Stefan after getting them each a Jack Daniels with crushed ice. She'd had to put soda in his, remarking that he evidently didn't get out much, after he'd choked on the first sip. Tori found that she couldn't think of a good way to start the conversation, so she fell silent again and it was Stefan who broke the silence.

"Erm. Who are you?" the question startled Tori so much that she actually answered without thinking.

"Toriana Jacobs."

"Oh. Um," he said looking more confused than he had. "I'm just Stefan. I don't have a last name. Um," /This seemed so much easier last night/ he thought, frustrated.

"Hmph, you're lucky. I hate my last name. It always makes me think of coffee. There is actually a brand of coffee named Jacobs, did you know that? I used to get teased about it at school until-"Tori realised that she was babbling and closed her mouth firmly, looking down at her lap. When she looked back at Stefan he was frowning at her. But with mild surprise she noticed that his eyes were unfocused.

"Stefan…" she said tentatively touching his arm. He didn't even blink. For a second she wondered what to do, he was obviously deep in thought and she didn't want to disturb him, so she decided to just let him think, and did the same. Her thoughts turned to home and her mother. Did she know? Was she part of this? She didn't think so, her mom was so different to her father. Kind, loving, never cold like him. She couldn't possibly know, could she?

His thoughts were on the school. Hearing the words 'Jacobs' and 'School' in the same sentence had triggered something. He remembered the whitecoats talking about someone named Jacobs coming to inspect the facility the day he'd escaped. He'd used the chaos just before the visit to slip through the security. He wondered if…

"Jacobs…" he murmured, then turned his attention to Tori. He knew so little about her. Actually, he knew nothing about her except her name and the fact that he felt connected to her, like he could trust her. "Tori." Her head snapped up when he said her name, "Do you know a Dr. Jacobs?" Her eyes widened a fraction at the question, and he knew the answer was yes.

"Yes, I knew him" she said it calmly but her voice was tinged with bitterness "Why? Did you?"

"No, not really." She seemed relieved at his answer. "But he was supposed to be visiting the School the day…" he trailed off realising that she didn't know about the School, or that he'd escaped, or what he was for that matter. Then he noticed that she didn't seem surprised at the mention of the School. And the question she did ask was definitely not one he had expected.

"Why?" she asked it almost thoughtfully.

"Why what?"

"Why was Dr Jacobs supposed to be at the School the day you escaped?" Stefan was flabbergasted. He just stared at her until she repeated the question.

"H-He came to oversee something. Wha- How do you know I escaped? And how do you know about the School?"

"I heard them, well him really, yelling about you. Well, I didn't know it was you at the time, but I found out later." He looked at her, horrified. She knew. She knew about Them, she knew about the School. /What if she's one of them?/ he thought in panic.

"Don't be daft. Of course I'm not one of them, I wouldn't be running from them if I were." It took them both a second to realise that Stefan hadn't actually said anything at all. When they did they just looked at each other in utter shock.

/What the hell just happened?/ she thought with wide eyes, her father momentarily forgotten. Stefan's eyes grew wider. /Wait, you can hear me?/ he nodded. /Well, say something./

/Erm, hello?/

"Oh my gosh." She breathed.

"I could hear you, your thoughts. How's that possible?" suddenly Tori knew who to blame and a wave of fury swept over her.

"I don't know," she said with a bitterness that made Stefan flinch, "but I know who does. And if I see him or one of his rabid little mongrels, I'll tear them apart." She focused her eyes on Stefan again and said, in a tone as cold as ice. "Dr Jacobs, the Head of the School, my Father."

**XxXxXxX**

**MN; ****XD I like that… rabid little mongrels… **

**Ata::gasp:: I can't believe that he would experiment on his own child!**

**Merla: and then to Still send his hell-spawned mutts after her!!**

**MN: so the dude needs therapy… that's nothing new. **

**Ata::rolls eyes:: midnite, jus coz you're a little batty-**

**Merla::chuckles:: excuse the pun.**

**Ata::glowers:: …doesn't mean everyone else is.**

**MN: XD whatever bookworm. Anywayz! Please R+R people!!**


	3. Chapter two

**A/N:**** Ola!! Okay… so this story was seriously screwed up so I have decided to revamp it in the hopes that all this effort will spur me into actually putting up some more and hopefully finishing it at long last. I had almost written this story off as a white elephant but I'd feel pretty much awful if I did that so I'm pulling it up out of the darkness of its near-indefinite hold. This version will be more chapters in a less huffed-up, patchwork, squished-Frankenstein's-monster and more structured and orderly sort of way. **

**Disclaimer: yes, some dude actually flew by on his golden-winged piggy and gave me the rights to Maximum Ride... uh huh… and then Alice and I had tea in the queen of hearts' garden with the man from the moon who brought some of it's cheese to have on toast.**

**XxX**

**MN: woohoo we're on Chapter 2!!!.**

**Ata::O.O is it just me, or has MN been rhyming?**

**Merla: yeah… O.o it's creepy. I wonder if she's drugged? **

**Ata::watches MN read through chapter happily:: I don't think so… she just seems really hap-py. O.O**

**Merla::pales:: oh kami! Midnite! Who did you kill?!**

**MN::jumps in shock:: **_**NANI?!?!**_** What are you on about now?!**

**Ata::shakes head:: **

**Merla: well, you're never this happy unless you're fighting or… oh… your mate is back isn't he?**

**MN::smirks::**

**Merla: ah… um.. nevermind… on with chapter two.**

**XxXxXxX**

**Carpe' Noctem**

**Chapter Two**

When Dyllan came back up about half an hour later, he found the bar empty. At first he was struck with a wave of worry, -Had she left? Why?- but then he heard footsteps upstairs. He grinned and shook his head. /typical/ he thought in amusement and went upstairs into his apartment. He should have known that she'd come up here. He'd offered to let her stay here last night when Gavin had brought her to him, pale and shaking, but she'd refused, asking him to just give her a ride to a friends house. When hr got to the top of the stairs he saw that the spare room's door was almost closed and presuming that that's where she was, he went inside.

Tori had just undone the last clip in her wig when she heard the crash and the yelp of pain coming from Dyllan's spare room. She had left Stefan there to get some sleep after he'd nearly passed out when she'd told him who she was. Well most of it anyway. He'd gone white as an albino cat that had just run into a Doberman when she'd told him about her father and the meeting with the Erasers, that's what he'd said they were called when she'd said 'wolf-thingy's'. Then she'd brought him up here, told him to take a shower (she'd leant him some of Dyllan's clothes) and get some sleep.

The wig dropped from her fingers and she was out the door before it hit the floor. She got to the room in time to see Stefan leap to his feet and pin Dyllan to the wall, his eyes wild and his hand at his throat. Dyllan's feet weren't on the ground and Stefan's knuckles were white with tension, she knew that with his strength he could easily kill Dyllan. She didn't think, she didn't have time. She stepped to where they were, crouched and swung round with her one foot extended, knocking Stefan's feet out from under him and jumped back up to catch Dyllan as he collapsed in shock. She had stepped back and sat him on the bed before Stefan had finished falling. She slowed her movements to a normal rate and tried to control her temper that had suddenly flared.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded, and was met with blank stares. She looked from Dyllan to Stefan and back again. Dyllan, being the adult, recovered first.

"Came in. Saw." He glanced at Stefan. "Sleeping. Thought you. Tried to wake. Pinned to wall. Here." /Talk about concise./ She thought dryly. She looked pointedly at Stefan. His answer wasn't much better.

"Sleeping. Erasers. " He blushed slightly and lowered his eyes "Chasing. Hand. Panicked. Didn't know." He paused "Sorry." Her anger evaporated at the look of shock and fear in his eyes.

She sighed and held out her hand to help him up. When he was on his feet she turned back to Dyllan who was looking at her in confusion.

"Um, Dyllan, this is Stefan, he's a friend of mine." She saw recognition dawn on his face.

"Oh," he nodded, "this is the guy the paperwork's for."

"Yeah." She looked back at Stefan who looked supremely worried.

"Paperwork?" he croaked.

"Um, Fake ID, Passports." This earned her an indignant snort from Dyllan.

"You make me sound like a criminal!"

"You are a criminal. Deal with it." He huffed and tried to fold his arms but winced in pain. "Are you okay?"

"I think your buddy sprained my wrist when he nearly pulled my arm out its socket."

"Let me see." She moved over to him and inspected his wrist. He was right, it was sprained, he was lucky it wasn't broken. She chewed her lip in thought. She could heal it, it was a minor injury and would take only a few seconds. But could she trust him? Would he freak out? She had to know before she tried. She looked up into his eyes and beyond them, into his thoughts. After a few seconds she knew enough to know that he wouldn't tell anyone. "Dyllan, do you trust me?" she asked quietly. She knew he did, but she had to hear it.

"Yes." He said instantly.

"Sure?"

He swallowed visibly before saying it again. "Yes. I trust you. Always have. You know that better than anyone."

"Okay. Hold still, this might hurt." She didn't know if it hurt other people or not, but she knew that it hurt her when the wound was touchy, like a broken bone, that hurt like hell. She focused on his hand and felt heat spread down her arm, through her fingers, into his hand. The damage was worse than just a sprained wrist, she realised as she 'felt' tendons tighten and muscle tears heal. She described it as 'feel' because she didn't know what exactly it was. It was like she could sense the wounds healing, see the muscle knitting itself together. It was really freaky at first, but she had gotten used to it over time. It took about ten seconds to heal properly and when she was done he just blinked at her.

"What?" she asked apprehensively.

"You're not normal, you know that? You make this whole big scene and then hold my hand for ten seconds." Now it was her turn to blink.

"Huh?" Didn't he notice? "Move your hand." She said in a small voice.

"I know you healed it, I'm not daft. And I am grateful, but you didn't have to make such a scene about it. I've known you were special for a long time. Since just after we started dating actually."

"Oh." It was the only thing she could think of to say.

/Are you feeling okay?/ the thought from Stefan startled her back to life.

/I'm fine./ she told him/just a little startled, that's all. This wasn't the reaction I expected./ his mental voice chuckled.

/I gathered as much./

/Very funny. You try healing your boyfriend and have him tell you that he's always thought you were weird./ she huffed./well girlfriend in your case./

/He was your boyfriend?/

/Yeah. A year and a bit. We broke up about a month back. Still friends though./

/Lucky. Most don't stay friends./

She couldn't help herself. /How do you know?/

He stayed silent. Damn, she'd gone too far.

She realised that the room was no longer silent and that Stefan and Dyllan were talking. And were in the middle of a conversation. Okay, that just wasn't normal. Stefan had been talking to her and to Dyllan at the same time? Not fair.

"-into the system and add you into the registry. It sounds fairly simple but if I get caught then I'm fried." Dyllan was saying. "but enough of my secrets. When did you two meet?" he asked curiously.

"This afternoon." Stefan said calmly.

"You're joking." When he realised he wasn't he let out his breath in a whistle. "but Terri came in here this afternoon with a picture of you and everything…" Stefan looked up sharply at Tori with cold eyes and raised eyebrows and he trailed off. "Oops." Stefan didn't have to say anything. The question was clear as day in his cold blue eyes.

"I found them in my father's study." Almost true. "There was other data but it was encrypted so I can't understand it."

"Let me see."

She hesitated, then got up and went to fetch them. Stefan felt his heartbeat quicken. How much did she know. Did she know about him? His DNA? His wings?

Tori debated for about a split second whether or not she should show him the stuff about her before deciding not to. She'd keep it to herself until she knew what it meant.

Dyllan cleared his throat when Tori reluctantly left the room and Stefan turned to face him.

"So, if you've never met before, how do you know each other? I mean, Tori seems to trust you a lot for someone she just met."

"I don't…" Stefan began, but then a thought struck him. "Hey, you just called her Tori, but earlier you called her Terri, why?"

Dyllan looked slightly amused by the question.

"Oh, I've known her real name for ages, I don't get involved with anyone without doing background research on them first. Paranoia comes standard in my line of work. I didn't tell her cause I figured that she just wanted to get away from who she was."

"Oh. What is your line of work?"

"You mean other than running a club?" Dyllan joked. "I'm an encryption and decryption specialist. Or in other words: a hacker." He didn't know why he was telling him this, but for some reason he trusted the guy.

"cool." Stefan breathed. If he'd had a normal childhood he would have realised that he sounded like a kid that'd just seen Santa, but he hadn't so he didn't. "Erm…" he continued, "When you did the search on her, did you ever go into what her father did?"

"Yes. I did. I didn't go very far, but I know that he does genetic research for some organisation. Some place called 'The School'.

Tori walked through the door, just in time to hear the words 'The School' coming from Dyllan's lips. And not at all in a questioning tone. Her hackles were once again instantly raised and the 'deer-caught-in-headlights' look that Dyllan was wearing did very little to bring them down.

"Dyllan," she started, in a voice so cold she almost expected to feel ice growing around her, "how and what do you know about the school?"

For a second Dyllan seemed to have frozen in time, except you could almost hear his brain working, then he seemed to come to a conclusion and visibly relaxed and when he spoke, his voice had taken on it's usual 'nothing surprises me' tone.

"Not very much, it's a genetic research facility, didn't go much further than that. Uses government encryption codes, so I didn't figure it was worth prison if I got caught spying. So I backed out before they noticed I was ever there." He said it so matter-of–factly, that she was left standing there with her mouth open, wanting to just smack him. //Tori, Calm down.// Stefan's mental voice was soothing, and with it came a feeling of comfort. She instantly calmed down.

//Okay, I'm calm, but damn, I'm sick of people hiding things from me.//

//just stay calm and hear him out. He may be able to help us…//

//hmmph, you should be more worried about this than me. You grew up in that hell-hole. They tortured you and treated you like dirt, ran tests on you. They… they…// Tori stopped at the look on his face. It was a mixture between fear and anger. She knew instantly that the anger was directed at The School, but the fear was directed at her. He was scared that she knew something he wasn't ready to share. She purposefully blocked him out of her thoughts. If he wasn't ready then she wouldn't pry. He would tell her when he was. She gathered all her willpower and sent him one thought //they tried to kill you.// she knew that her mental voice sounded small and strained with her concentration and trying to keep thought and emotion separate and she pretended not to notice the flicker of relief that crossed his face as he took the shaking in her voice for fear. She cleared her throat and looked back at Dyllan after firmly giving Stefan a look that meant 'I want to drop the subject'

"Sorry. It's just a touchy subject." She walked across to them and handed Stefan the sheet of paper, then turned to Dyllan again. Stefan had said that he may be able to help…

"It's okay Tori. I would've reacted pretty much the same." He shrugged and looked at her questioningly, trying to figure out if she was going to kill him or something.

"'s okay" she mumbled. "I kinda knew you'd look me up, I mean, I honestly didn't think you'd get me the documents without checking that I wasn't bait or something."

"oh."

She glanced over at Stefan who was looking at the sheet of paper in his hand but not really even seeing it.

"Um," she said quietly to Dyllan, "can I talk to you alone for a sec? I need to ask you something."

"Sure." He said instantly. He would do pretty much anything for her, even though she was clearly in some bad trouble. Stefan didn't even look up as they left. He knew they left, but he was too lost in his past to acknowledge it. Besides, he trusted Tori, and knew instinctively that she just needed to talk to Dyllan on her own.

Tori walked into Dyllan's room and went straight to her bag and took out the folder, then stopped. She stood for a moment, playing with the folder in her hands, the question clear in her eyes.

"It's okay Tori. I promise that whatever gets said stays in this room. You know you can trust me. You know that I never have and never will hurt you. At least not intentionally." he added. Tori blinked, it always surprised her to see how much he cared for her, even though they both knew that they weren't meant for each other they still cared for each other very deeply, almost like siblings.

"Thanks. I guess I needed to hear that. Okay." She took a deep breath and mentally braced herself. "I need to know if you can crack this encryption." she said handing him the file. She watched his eyes widen as he saw her picture, then narrow in confusion as he began to read. As his gaze travelled down the page his face grew pale and his lips began to form a thin line of rage.

"What the hell did they do to you?" he said almost to himself, his voice was so quiet she nearly didn't hear him.

"I don't know." She replied, "That's what I need you to find out."

"This encryption doesn't look too complex, it might take me a couple of hours." He got up and headed towards the door, then paused and looked back "I'll be downstairs at the computer. If you need anything, come down and find me, otherwise, you know where everything is." He started to turn when she nodded then stopped and looked back at her with a strange look and a lopsided smile on his face. In a few quick steps he'd crossed the room to where she was leaning against the wall. He leant in, gave her a quick hug and pressed his lips against her temple, and then he was out the door and down to the basement, leaving her smiling slightly at the sweet gesture. She stood still for a moment, lost in memories of the many times she'd come here after a fight with her father and fell into his arms crying. He'd held her and whispered to her until she'd fallen asleep in his arms. He was safety to her. She knew that she could come to him if she needed help. He'd always been there for her, he was like home. The place she came to for everything.

She sighed and moved away from the wall. Time to see how Stefan was handling this.

When she walked into the room she noticed two things. All the doors leading to the balcony were open, and Stefan was nowhere to be seen. //oh, shite!!!! STEFAN!!!//she yelled as loud as her mental voice would allow. "no no no no _no!_"

Tori heard a yelp from above her followed by a large shadow hitting the balcony outside. She tensed for a moment then, feeling Stefan's familiar presence, ran out onto the balcony to find what looked like a groaning pile of feathers lying on the tiles. It took her a few seconds to realise that the pile of feathers had limbs sticking out of it. Limbs wearing familiar clothes. The feathery heap groaned again and moved, rolling so that she could see a head. Stefan's head. "What the-?" her voice stopped working as Stefan suddenly leapt to his feet revealing an impressive set of wings and a nasty cut on his forehead. He stood for a second looking petrified before all colour drained from his face and with a final "Oh shit" promptly sank back to the floor.

Tori caught Stefan just in time to stop him hitting his head on the floor, picked him up(not very easy considering his size and the fact that he was unconscious) and carried him inside, laying him carefully on the bed. She moved his wings to make sure they wouldn't get hurt and began to search for injuries. She began with his wings, letting her consciousness flow through them searching for irregularities.

She found a few bruises and two badly pulled muscles, but no serious injuries in his wings. She moved down to his feet and found that he'd twisted his right ankle in the fall. As she moved up toward his head she found a lot of old scar tissue some of it was fixable and she repaired as much as she could then she got to his head. No fractures, just a nasty bump. Probably a fair concussion. She healed the cut and bruising but left the concussion, she was too tired to try and mend his brain. He'd have one hell of a headache when he woke up. She moved across his arms and stopped abruptly when she found something that was definitely not supposed to be there. It was small and metallic. It felt like… a micro chip. It was imbedded inside his muscle layer. She pulled out quickly and stared into his sleeping face. This couldn't be good.

She sat for a while and thought about why a micro chip would be inside Stefan. Maybe she should ask… that was it! She'd ask Dyllan. He'd know what to do.

She didn't quite break the land speed record getting down the stairs and to the basement, but when she got to the basement door she stopped. In all the time she'd known Dyllan, this was the first time she'd ever been allowed to go down here and it made her feel like a five year old again, having to go into father's study on a dare, his study was his private place a place where not even mommy went. That was how she felt now, her hand poised to open the door to the basement. She took a deep breath and opened the door. Nothing happened, the earth was still there, no demons or monsters come to get her. She let out the breath again and shook her head at herself. She went down the dozen or so stairs at a fairly brisk pace and gasped as she got to the bottom.

The whole room was covered from ceiling to floor in computer equipment. There were monitors set into one wall, some showing text, others datastreams and a few showed various areas of the club. She'd never seen any cameras in the club. She recognised very few pieces of equipment. A scanner, printer, telephone line. And there, sitting in the middle of all this was Dyllan, typing so fast on a keyboard that his fingers were almost a blur. She stood there with her mouth hanging open waiting for him to acknowledge her and staring at his fingers as if hypnotised. How the heck did anyone type that fast? As she was standing there she realised that there was music playing. It was a piano piece. She listened to it playing, sometimes like a trickling stream and others like a heavy crash of water, but all the time flowing with a beautiful grace.

"It's called Nocturne." Her eyes flew open at the sound of Dyllan's voice. She hadn't even realised she'd closed them. "It was written by a man named Chopin."

"It's beautiful."

"That it is. It helps me think." He looked at her as if waiting for her to say something, and for a few moments she just stood there blinking at him with a blank expression on her face. Then she remembered why she was here.

"I wanted to ask you a question," she began "how much do you know about micro chips?"

"I know a fair amount about them." His brow furrowed in thought "why?"

Tori looked down at the floor, suddenly unsure of what to say.

"I wanted to know what they'd be used for, if they were implanted into an animal, or a human."

"Well, they usually use them in pets, as identification… other than that, I guess they could be used as data storage, although if you get technical then identification chips are a form of data storage… the only other thing I can think of is a tracer chip. They use them in wildlife research… Tori? You still with me? You look very pale."

Tori looked at Dyllan, her fear written all over her face. Her eyes had become haunted and her skin had gone the colour of sour cream.

"They… they… chip… him… ohgod." She took a deep steadying breath, shut her eyes and counter to ten. "Can they be disabled?"

"Most of them, yes. Tori, what's happened?"

"I think I just found a micro chip in Stefan's arm." She said flatly. "I don't know. I need you to take a look at it. Can you?"

"O-okay."

"If it's a tracer chip then I'll need to get rid of it, but if it's not, then I need to know what's on it."

"Okay. Can you bring him down here so I can take a look?"

"Uh… that might be a bit difficult." She said sheepishly.

"Tori… what did you do?"

"I, um, that is, IthinkImayhaveconcussedhimslightly."

"_Concussed_ him?!" Dyllan asked, shock and disbelief written across his face.

"It was an accident!" Dyllan shook his head and gave her a look that clearly stated he didn't even want to know.

"Well, then we'll just have to wait till he wakes up." He eyed her critically "you better get some rest too, you look tired."

Tori's protest died in her throat as she became aware that she was actually very tired. Healing took energy. And she'd had to do a lot of it in the past twenty-four hours.

"Okay, I'll see you later then."

At his surprised nod she turned and headed upstairs. She didn't see what he was so surprised about. It wasn't like she NEVER did what others told her to.

**XxXxXxX**

**Ata::glances at MN:: I'm seeing some large similarities.**

**Merla: XD yeah. Me too.**

**MN::halo:: Nani?! I do what I'm told... sometimes.**

**Ata::rolls eyes:: oh yeah? And when last did you willingly do what someone asked you to? **

**Merla::smirks:: that wasn't life or death.**

**MN: uh… eh he he… -.-' I'm gonna go… train! Please R+R people! Ja ne:ITs::**


End file.
